“I hope our fund will be the first hedge fund to take advantage of using Bitcoins,” explains Anatoliy Knyazev in Moscow. One of Exante’s managing partners, Knyazev confirms that the firm is currently in the process of structuring the fund, with a view to launch this autumn. Bitcoin is a decentralised, digital currency that could revolutionise the world of payments. It refers to both the open source software used to trade the electronic currency, as well as the currency itself. An anonymous group developed the concept in 2009, publishing a white paper that detailed the crypto-currency algorithms and proof of how Bitcoin worked. As Knyazev explains: “Bitcoin is basically an electronic version of cash, or gold. Each user has a file on the computer representing their wallet. It has a unique public key which you use to send and receive money.” In order to use received Bitcoins,...